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a 5mm @anni @time ABRAM HEATON, or BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR To HILVISELFs AND BRADBURY .& GlOODSE-LL, OF SAME PLACE.

' Leners Para@ No. 88,709, [man 111ml e, 1869.

INIPRO'VI'EMENT IN FLUID-METERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters *atent and making part of the same.

To all/whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ABnAM HEATON, of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, have invented a-new Improvement in Water-Meters; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same. and whichsaid drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, m-

Figure l, a side view; l

Figure 2, a vertioal'central section;

Figure 3, a side view of the inner tube; and Vin Figure 4, a side viewA of the outer tube.v

This invention relates to, an improvement in meters for measuring running-fluids, and consists inthe arrangement, within a cylinder, of a fixed hollow shaft, receiving atits lower end the'iluid, and divided'lon`gitudinally, so that the fiuid passes up the hollow shaft, one side of the partition, downthe'other side, and out at the exit, the said hollow shaft being provided with an endless spiral groove, above and below its centre, extending around the tube, and a corresponding spiral groove above its centre, but located -relatively at right angles to the groove below, and the said shaft having arranged over it Aanother hollow shaft, the outer hollow shaft revolving freely upon the inner, and provided,4 at its centrewith a'flange, which lls the cylinder at the centre,vdividing it into two parts, one above and -the other below the said flange; and upon the said shaft, above and below the said flange, is arrangeda piston, having a pin extending through a longitudinal groove in the inner fixed shaft, and outlets and inlets arranged through the two shafts, so that the fluid, passing in below the lower piston, will ,cause the said piston to rise; and, through its connection with the spiral grooves in the inner shaft, will cause the outer shaft to revolve, sothat when the lower piston has arrived 'to' its full height, the connection ofthe inlet will be cut off from below, and opened' above the piston, and between the piston and central flange.

At the 'same time, the openings Vthiough the shaft, below the piston, are' brought into such relative posi` tion'to each other as to permit the exit-of the fluid, so

that the inilowng fluid above the piston will forcel out the fluid below, andthe space' above the piston be filled by the inflowing fluid, until the piston returns to its lowest point, by means of the continuous groove upon the opposite lside of the inner shaft; Then, the valves are again reversed, the inflowing fluid raising the piston, and the fluid before the'piston forced out through the tubes, and so on. Also, in combining with a single piston, a second piston above, which operates, in like manner, in the spiral groove above the fiange, so that the one tends to carry the other past the dead-centre in the grooves in the inner shaft.

In order to the clear understanding of my invention, I will fully describe -the same, as illustratedin vthe accompanying drawings.

A-is'a cylinder, of any desirable size, in preportibn to the amount of duid to pass therethrough, Yfitted to a head, a, in which is fixed a shaft, B, the said shaft being divided longitudinally by a' partition, (l, (see g. 2,) and withA an inlet-pipe, O, and outlet-pipe, D, on the opposite side, the said inner shaft extending nearly up to the other end of the cylinder. .Upon the outer surface of the said inner shaft, I form a spiral groove, c, below the centre, and another, f, above, the said spiral groove being a continuous, endless groove around the cylinder; that is to say,re turning, upon opposite sides, at the place of beginning. The one groove, j, `is arranged respective to the other groove, c, so that their extreme points are a1;- ially at right angles to each other', as seen in iig..3; and `over the said shaft B, I arrange anV outer shaft, E, which, ts closely the inner shaft, but yet so as to revolve freely thereon, and upon the said inner .shaft I arrange a flange, F, so'as to divide the cylinder A int'o two chambers, one above and the other below the said shaft E, andin the said shaft E, I cut a groove, n, above, and, m, below the flange'F,'each equal to the extent, and corresponding to the grooves aand j', on thejinnershaft.; and over the said shaft E, vI arrange pistons, I andL, one above and the otherbelow; and into the saidl pistons, passing through the respect ive 'groove in the outer shaft, and into the corresponding groove of the inner shaft, I arrangelpins or studs, t and p, (see fig'. 2,) the said pistons moving freely on the surface of the outer shaft, and filling the cylinder, yet so as tomove freely therein. f I It will, therefore, be seen, that when the lower-piston is raised, its pin 'i will traverse vertically in the groove m, in the outer shaft, but, at the same time, will travel the` spiral groove in the inner shaft, and

thus cause the outer shaft to.' revolve until the piston has arrived to -its fullestheight in the groove c, then, returning vupon the opposite side, Willrcontinue the revolution of the outer shaft in the same direction, and thus a constant movement, up and down, of the piston I will cause a constant revolution of the outer shaft. The piston L' being arranged upon the groove j', which is at quarters, will traverse'corresponding to the groove c, in like manner as two cranks set at quarters, so that the power, acting upon one, aids the other inpassing the dead-centre. v l

To thus operate automatically, openings, l 2.3 4, are formed through the inlet side of the inneror fixed shaft, and corresponding openings, 5 6 7 8, upon the' opposite side, and upon the outer shaft, below theV flange, an opening, 9, is formed upon one side, corre# spending to the lowervopenings, 1 4 and 5, of the inner shaft, and an opening, l0, upon the opposite side, corn responding tothe openings 2 and v6, and above the ange, at quarters to the openings 9 and l0, are formed, rst, an opening, 11, corresponding to the openings 3 and 7 of the inner shaft, and upon theoppos'ite side, anfopening, 12, corresponding'to the openings 4 and 8 ofthe inner shaft. (See figs.A 2 -and 4.)

The operation is 'as follows:v y

The `pistons being in position, denoted ,in g. 2, the fluid, entering the tube 0, passes up through the openin'gf'2 of the inner shaft, and 10 oft-the outer shaft,

which, at this point, correspond, so that the pressure of the i-uidis brought to bear between the iiange F and the piston I.' Therefore, thelpiston'I willdescend, and in its descent turns the shaft E, until ithasreaclfed its lowest point,- at which'p'oint the opening 2 of the inner shaft is closed, in consequence of the opening 10 in the other shaft having passed beyond the said openy ing 2. -At this point, the opening lof the inner shaft is opened by the opening v9 of the outer shaft coming on toit, so that the luidwill beadmitted below the piston, and, -at the same time, the opening 10 of the vouter shaft has reached the opposite opening 6 of the ID, and thuswill continuevto act, receivingand discharging'the fluidalternatelyv above and below, giving -a constantrevolution `to the outer shaft, which extends up through the cylinder, as at G, so as to form means of attaching an indicator to denote the number of revolutions'which the said shaft has made, consequently,

denotingthe quantity of Afluid which has passed through the apparatus.

In order to avoid the ystopping of theapparatus atl case it would be better that a y-wheel should be attached, as a means of `aiding the revolutiony over the dead-centre. I prefer, however, and in practice it would vbel better, to employ the two pistons with the fixed ange between.' l

Having thus fully described my invention,

What I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 'is- The inner, fixed, divided shaft B, combined with the outer shaft E, arranged within the cylinder A, and combined with one or more pistons, and arranged with corresponding openings through the two'shafts, so as to operate substantiallyin themanner herein set forth.

ABRAM HEATON.

Witnesses:

GEO. O. CBEN, Fg Hum). 

